Jeff City Beat: Extra dollar for ‘violent’ video games

Saturday

Apr 6, 2013 at 11:00 AM

A weekly look at legislative happenings in the capitol

Jason Hunsicker/@JHunsicker_KDE

A weekly report on happenings in Missouri’s state government. Aside from noting actions of locally-elected officials Rep. Nate Walker (R-003), Rep. Craig Redmon (R-004) and Sen. Brian Munzlinger (R-18), this is a summary of important bills and votes from the Missouri House and Senate.

Tracking Redmon

Rep. Redmon sponsored House Bill 891, which would prohibit county building ordinances from conflicting with laws on liquefied petroleum gas installations. “Currently, the Department of Agriculture charges $10 per test to test liquid meters used for the measurement and retail sale of liquefied petroleum gas. The bill, as of January 1, 2014, increases the testing fee to $40 per meter and allows the department director, as of January 1, 2015, to set the testing fee per meter at a rate to cover the expenses of the testing, except the fee cannot be set at more than $120 per meter. The Division of Weights and Measures within the department is also authorized to compute the charges for metrology calibrations to the nearest quarter of an hour rather than the nearest hour and set the fee at a rate that will not yield more revenue than is necessary to run the metrology laboratory.”

Introduced this week: House

HJR 34: Would by amendment to the Missouri Constitution prohibit anyone elected to the general assembly after Nov. 1, 2014 from serving more than 12 years in either the House or Senate, or 24 years combined. Members elected before Nov. 1, 2014, would be limited to eight years in either the House or Senate, or 16 years combined.

HB 893: Sponsored by Rep. Diane Franklin (R-123), the bill creates an excise tax of $1 to be levied on “violent” video games, which refers to any game with a rating of Teen, Mature or Adults Only by the Entertainment Software Rating Board. Funds from this new tax would go largely toward “training of school officials, teachers, and staff and law enforcement efforts to combat violent crimes,” and “community outreach, identification and prevention of mental health conditions associated with exposure to violent video games...”

HB 903: Sponsored by Rep. John Mayfield (D-020), the bill would require applicants for marriage licenses who are under age 25 to obtain at least three hours of premarital counseling. The counseling must be conducted by a clergy member, licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, licensed therapist or counselor, current high school counselor, or a couple who has been married at least 25 years.

Introduced this week: Senate

No new legislation was introduced. Senate Rule No. 48 states no new bills, other than appropriate bills, can be introduced after March 1 unless consented to by a majority of the elected senators.

Votes of the week

HB 306: Introduced by Rep. Denny Hoskins (R-054), House Bill 306 would designate “Old Drum” as the official Missouri historical dog. According to the bill, the dog’s death was the subject of an 1870 Mo. Supreme Court case. It would also redesignate Jim the Wonder Dog as the state’s official wonder dog.The bill passed the House on April 2, 97-50, and has been read twice in the Senate. It has also been referred to the Senate General Laws Committee.

HB 152: The House passed HB152, which would allow school boards to commission school officers who would enforce laws relating to crimes committed on school grounds, at school activities, and on school buses. The bill passed the House 129-20 on Wednesday and has been read once in the Senate.

Tracking

SB 16: Sen. Munzlinger’s bill that would exempt farm work by children under age 16 from certain child labor requirements passed a House Agriculture Policy Committee vote on Thursday and was referred to the House Rules Committee.

HB 457: Co-sponsored by Rep. Walker, the bill which would allow doctors, nurses and other medical professionals to not participate in certain specified medical procedures or research, defined as that pertaining to abortions, abortion-inducing drugs, contraception, non-medically necessary sterilization, assisted reproduction, human cloning, embyronic stem-cell research, human somatic cell nuclear transfer, fetal tissue research, and nontherapeutic fetal experimentation, if it violates his or her conscience, received its second reading in the Senate and was referred to the Senate Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee.

Have a bill you’d like us to track? Contact us at dailyexpresseditor@gmail.com.